Forty Five (45) Review: The Antichrist, Anticlimax, and a Teddy Bear in Disguise
I’ve been doing reviews for Severed Cinema since 2012, and as I always say they are my own solo opinions (and sometimes those of anyone sat watching them with me). I write from a fan point of view, not a critic. I do not falsely gloss things over, as I think that’s unfair on any potential viewer, nor do I discourage those who has a genuine interest in watching a movie.
Bazz Hancher is a friend, I’ll likely see him soon at Weird Worcester II this year. My Partner in Gore, Willow, and I had roles in his flick, Axel Falcon (see Cheese and Carnage: Unraveling ‘Axel Falcon’ a Dark Tale of Vengeance). Bazz is a hard-working mofo on the UK underground scene. Hate Little Rabbit (see review here) is, along with the crazy above mentioned Axel Falcon, a must see, however with a deep sigh and my fingers poised on my keyboard, I do not feel the same buzz from Bazz with his latest film, Forty Five (45).
Everything begins wonderfully. A quote from the Book of Daniel regarding the coming of the Antichrist, then a girl who is bloody and beaten in the woods certainly sets a sombre eerie mood. We cut to the mandatory crime scene set up with detectives chattering and discussing motives why someone would go all out on the killing of a young teen. Down to displaying her sliced off genital area in a symbol further away.
The girl’s father, Boyd Fallon, has hired a P.I to look into things. Some time afterwards they meet in the loft of a farm building (I think I recognise that farm) and the P.I is nervous, or trying to be, as he delivers his lines. He mentions a prophet, a priest, the Book of Daniel, and someone called 45.
“The closer people come to 45, the closer they come to death!” The P.I doesn’t want any cash; he’s done with it all. Anyhow, Fallon does a bit of digging, finding the whereabouts of the priest. He also has the first of many red lit visions and nightmares that showcase Rachael Painter’s special effects. We saw her at work on the set of Axel Falcon — amazing and absolutely solid. Dunno why she isn’t listed on the IMDb Axel Falcon credits page, y’know! The dreams constantly show his daughter (who we also see in spirit form a few times in the film) her murder, and glimpses of 45.
Father Vaughan fills in a few more plot points for Fallon, what 45 is, and what it means to the world — the war to end all wars, a holy war, the coming of the apocalypse! 45 slaughtered his daughter, plus why she died, and, again, if we didn’t know, the closer you get to him, the nastier things come.
More visions give us a taste of what Bazz, and his gang could do with a major budget. It’s chilling and heavy in atmosphere. Next on the list, Fallon visits Detective Blake, who since investigating the case has grown sick, incurable dying kind of sick. Once again, the endless dialogue boils down to, the closer you get to 45, the…. blah blah blah. Other than a brilliantly realised sequence involving a long dead woman staring out from a window at him, nothing truly relevant is learnt that couldn’t have been given to us the scenes with Vaughan.
Fallon then meets with some woman; I can’t think what she had to do with it because I’d started to zone out with the lengthy monotone delivered conversations. She tells him more and reveals horrific visions. After reading the press book, I learnt that she’s a false prophet. I hope this all pays off because it’s becoming rather repetitive and tedious.
Forty Five has great effects, like I mentioned, but it’s the way most of the cast are delivering the lines, no passion, just reading.
It’s all God’s fault, by the way. I could have told them that!
The writing is very rich and descriptive for forty-five per cent of the time, for the other fifty-five, it feels like it’s rehashing its own content to stretch out to a forty minute running time, which shouldn’t be that hard to do. At least fifteen minutes felt padded so far, and I aren’t at the big finale yet!
Oh dear. We see 45 and I wish he’d stayed maybe in the shadows or with just those glimpses. As Fallon lays back crucified, a big black fluffy fucking teddy bear wearing a mask and wobbly horns drones on and on. Budget is budget, but I’ve seen tight films wisely keep their big bad semi hidden and it works so well. 45 is cuddly, he could be a plush toy with (wobbly) horns.
45 is a serious venture for Bazz and his White Raven crew. Sometimes it’s a genuinely creepy experience. I could have dealt with the padded out (what felt like) hours (honestly, the characters were all saying the same thing, I think) with the wooden cast — hey, I’m not a good actor myself, had the finale been a clear and brave experience. But… NOTHING GETS RESOLVED! Did I miss something??!! I admit Willow and I were fed up, and I will try to watch this again soon, but please let me know what did I miss? I know it’s still a trend to serve up a no conclusion nosedive these days, but this one really needed a more solid end. Please, what did I miss??!!
What is impressive is the fact that all of this was made for £2,700. That is an achievement. I kind of wish the money had been spent on adding other things instead of awkward padded out scenes throughout. On a plus, it felt like an old BBC Ghost Story for Christmas episode (see review here), or a ‘70s British tale of terror for a while, then just fell off unfortunately.
Kemal (Axel Falcon, Video Shop Tales of Terror) Yildrim as Boyd Fallon, Andrew ( Angel Lust, Wrath of Thorn, Star Wars Episode 1) Elias as the priest, and Grace Woolgar as Boyd’s deceased daughter — I can’t believe this is her only role according to IMDb, are all okay holding everything up best they can, but sorry, the rest of the cast sound totally uncommitted to what they are doing. Some points become toe curling.
Check it out if you happen to find it playing, to see what you think. It may just be myself and Willow who felt underwhelmed by the whole experience, and it upset us as we’d been looking forward to this because White Raven Films’ creations are usually a quality experience. The fault is the script, I’m afraid. It attempts to be deep and intelligent but bogs and muddles itself into a choke hold with too many wasted opportunities.
Directed by: Bazz Hancher
Written by: Bazz Hancher, Michael Walcott
Produced by: Bazz Hancher, Michael Walcott, James Underwood
Edited by: Bazz Hancher, MIchael Walcott
Special Effects by: Rachael Painter
Cast: Kemal Yildrim, Andrew Elias, Grace Woolgar, Laura Liptrot, Scott Mullins, Laurence Saunders, Maura Judges, Jonathan Darby
Year: 2026
Country: UK
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 40 mins
Studio: LBM Video
Distributor: White Raven Fims
